BISHKEK, October 24. /TASS/. The decision taken by Kyrgyzstan’s parliament to deprive former head of state Almazbek Atambayev of the status of ex-president is legal. This decision was taken on Thursday during a session of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of the republic, the chamber’s administration told TASS.

"The members of the Constitutional Chamber came to the conclusion that provisions of the constitution were not violated during the adoption by the parliament of the specified decision," a Constitutional Chamber official stated. He said that this decision "is final and is not subject to appeal."

The members of the Kyrgyz parliament voted to strip Atambayev of his status of ex-president on June 27, 2019. Several days later representatives for the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan addressed the Constitutional Chamber, asking to recognize the decision as illegal, as parliamentary members do not have such powers under the Constitution. Thus, in their opinion, in this case the MPs’ actions run counter to the country’s constitution.

Atambayev, who governed Kyrgyzstan from 2011 to 2017, was detained on August 8 in his residence in the village of Koi-Tash, Chui Region, during a special operation that lasted almost a day. The supporters of the former head of state, who repeatedly rejected all charges against him, offered resistance, and one riot policeman was killed during the operation. During the confrontation more than a hundred people sought medical help, including police officers. The court gave sanction to the former president’s arrest at least until October 26, and Atambayev was taken to the detention center of the Kyrgyz State Committee of National Security.

The former president was given a notification of suspected use of violence against law enforcement officials, organization of civil unrest, of a murder, an attempted murder, of hostage taking, corruption during crime boss Aziz Batukayev’s illegal release from custody, corruption during the reconstruction of the Bishkek thermal power station, an illegal deal regarding the building of the Forum industrial group in Bishkek and the illegal ownership of land plots in the village of Koi-Tash in the Issyk-Kul Region.